HP’s New Notebooks Target Hipsters, Fashionistas

HP has combined sleek, brushed metal and colorful, fluttering butterflies into a new collection of designer notebooks that will hit stores later this year.

With a new 13-inch and 15-inch laptop that pack in some powerful specs in a slim body, the company took a shot at the ultra-thin notebooks category. The new slim laptops will carry the the ‘Envy’ brand and are targeted at road warriors and executives who want a full-sized notebook without the heft.

Separately , HP also showed a new netbook design from Vivienne Tam on the catwalks at the New York Fashion Week. HP has a long-standing partnership with Tam who designed an earlier version of the HP Mini netbook.

Over the last year, the ultra-thin notebooks category has caught on among PC makers. Apple created a stir with the MacBook Air, a laptop introduced in January 2008 and cleverly presented as slim enough to fit inside a manila envelope. Earlier this year, Dell released the Adamo, a notebook with a 13.4-inch display, 1.2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2-GB memory and 128-GB solid state drive for prices starting at $2000.

Envy 13 has HP hopes to beat those specs. The $1700 Envy 13 has a 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 3GB RAM and 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 GPU. It will come with a 250GB hard drive and and an external DVD-RW drive

At 3.74 pounds, the Envy 13 is heavier than the MacBook Air’s 3 pounds but lighter than Adamo’s 4 pounds. Still for an ultra-thin that little extra weight on the Envy comes as a surprise and can be annoying.

Though HP has dropped the ‘Voodoo’ brand from these laptops, the PCs carry the Voodoo legacy forward in looks and design. The brushed metal look, subtle etchings around the keypad and the square edges are very reminiscent of the HP 13.3-inch Voodoo Envy laptop released last year. But that also means a sense of deja vu–there’s nothing in here to surprise potential buyers.

What is new is the optional Slim Fit extended life battery, a neat slab of power that snaps on to the bottom of the Envy 13 and doubles the standard seven-hour battery life.

The $1800 Envy 15 is heavier at 5.18 lbs and come with Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB memory and a 15.6 inch display.

The two laptops are expected to be available starting October 18.

Separately, the company showed off a ‘digital clutch’ at Vivienne Tam’s fashion show at Bryant Park in New York. The HP Vivienne Tam digital clutch is expected to be available in spring 2010.